Amazon.com
Like any journalist worth her salt, renowned news correspondent Cokie Roberts knows how to ask the tough questions. In We Are Our Mothers' Daughters, she poses what has long been a real doozy: "What is woman's place?" As you might guess, her answer is manifold, reflected by the table of contents, which reads like the Career Day schedule at a progressive girls' school: Sister, Politician, Consumer Advocate, Aunt, Soldier, First Class Mechanic, Friend, Reporter, Civil Rights Activist, Wife, Mother/Daughter, Enterpriser. Roberts makes no claims about this being groundbreaking research, or even an exacting investigation, rather, she explains that these are simply her own stories, and those of women she has come in contact with at different times and places in her life.
Having graduated from Wellesley College in 1964, Roberts explains that the women of her generation were pioneers in many ways--especially when it came to career and workplace issues: "We were the first women at almost everything we did, and most of us often had the experience of being the only woman in the room." Accordingly, many of her essays are political in nature: the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (which included "sex" as a prohibited discrimination category by virtual accident); the work of consumer advocate Esther Peterson; and the history of women in the military. But for Roberts, it's clear that the personal is political, and many stories, while not overtly activist--her older sister's death, her circle of female friends, and her experiences as a wife, mother, and reporter--reveal the importance she places on a united community of strong women. Using clean, compelling language throughout, Roberts compiles these different stories to reveal a thread of continuity running through the fabric of women, summarizing, "We are connected throughout time and regardless of place." She ends with a message of encouragement for young women--that we need only look as far as our foremothers for inspiration. --Brangien Davis, Amazon.com Kids Editor
From School Library Journal
YA-Roberts, an NPR and ABC correspondent, has written a series of wide-ranging essays that are delightful to read, if difficult to classify. She gently leads readers from her sister's untimely death from cancer, through her early married years as an unquestioning follower of her husband's career, to historical vignettes featuring women as warriors, fighters for human rights, or entrepreneurs. In each of these selections, the author's voice is honest, and sometimes bewildered, as she attempts to fix upon what it is that women do and what it is they should be passing on to the next generation. Roberts discusses her grandmothers and eccentric aunts as well as her own daughter and her friends. She comments that her mother and mother-in-law were both under 50 when they became grandmothers, giving that relationship a long time to grow and change. Today's young women, waiting later to marry and have children, may miss this lively connection. These and other observations are indeed food for thought, and reading this slim volume gives mothers, daughters, aunts, sisters, friends, and other female relations much to think about. Many of the historical tidbits may tempt YAs to look further into the brief list of suggested readings. This is a fine vehicle for discussion or individual contemplation, giving both mothers and daughters new perspectives for viewing one another. Wonderful material for all ages.Susan H. Woodcock, Kings Park Library, Burke, VACopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Veteran journalist Roberts intersperses her memoir with vignettes of women she's gotten to know in three decades of political reporting. She grew up in Washington and Louisiana, the daughter of U.S. Reps. Hale and Lindy Boggs, with an extended family that provided strong female role models. Two of the women she profiles here are Esther Peterson, a consumer advocate in the 1970s, and Dorothy Height, former president of the National Council of Negro Women. Roberts also speaks of her career and motherhood in the years before employers provided maternity leave and subsidized daycare. Finally, she asks, "What is a woman's place? For most women it's many places, different places at different times." This lively recording will be popular among public library patrons.?Nann Blaine Hilyard, Lake Villa Dist. Lib., ILCopyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review, Karen Ray
No important questions are resolved here. To the contrary, Roberts believes many essential questions are unresolvable, but she is a facile and mostly entertaining writer.
Entertainment Weekly, Margot Mifflin
[H]er insights about women's changing roles in society often redeem the terminally perky prose.
The Los Angeles Times Sunday Book Review, Karen Stabiner
These are little tastes of a larger story, and while there are elegant, touching passages, there is not enough here.... Roberts has seen so much. But her life is not adequately reflected in her writing. Restraint is an admirable quality, and discipline to be desired in a writer, but restraint carried too far begins to look like etiquette.
The Washington Post
"This book is a celebration of women in their various roles: mother, sister, civil rights advocate, consumer advocate, first-class mechanic, politician . . . . [It is a] paean to feminism and the solidarity of womankind."
From AudioFile
The formidable Cokie Roberts of NPR and ABC shares her thoughts on the powerful women she admires, including her sister, a mayor; and her mother, a congresswoman. If you've heard her on the air, you know what she sounds like. She is well-practiced in reading her own copy. Journalistic as a writer, Roberts is most interesting when delivering analysis, her particular genius, and dullest when going over background events where her enunciation flags in her rush to get these passages over with. Nonetheless, her thoughts are absorbing, instructive and inspiring. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
From Kirkus Reviews
Sound bites rather than substance from a reporter known for her insightful political analyses on National Public Radio and ABC-TV. NPR fans know veteran journalist Roberts as one third of the female triumvirate (Nina Totenberg and Linda Wertheimer complete the triangle) that has long ruled public-radio airwaves, breaking stories and delving deep into substantive issues. Roberts claims to want to do the same here. As a woman in her mid-50s, she has lived through many of the changes created by the women's movement. This book is meant to offer perspective on the ways in which women's lives have changed so radically by telling stories about the roles women play. Unfortunately, the analysis is as slim as the book itself. Roberts sets her rather general tone by dividing the book into the generic roles women may play, beginning with sister and moving through politicianher mother was noted congresswoman Lindy Boggsmechanic first class, friend, wife, and mother/daughter, among others. Some stories are historical or biographical in nature, such as the chapter that examines the life of consumer advocate Esther Peterson. Others are more personal in nature, such as Roberts's musings on her sister, Barbara, who died not long ago after a bout with cancer. None are particularly pithy. In the section on the trials of juggling a career with her reporter husband, Steven, for instance, Roberts glosses over huge issues, such as finding day care or babysitting help in an era where few women worked outside the home. ``We've had many a `heated discussion,' as the politicians say, over the appropriate allocation of each other's time between work and family,'' she writes in the chapter called ``Wife.'' This is the historical reference for today's working mothers? A surprisingly shallow endeavor from someone who should know better. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Book Description
In this bestselling collection of essays, renowned news correspondent Cokie Roberts examines the nature of women's roles, from mother to mechanic, sister to soldier, through the illuminating lens of her personal experience. Each essay introduces us to several of the fascinating women Roberts has encountered during the course of her reporting career; Roberts also relates moving anecdotes about the women ion her life, like her mother, former congresswoman Lindy Boggs. These intimate portraits of women become the springboard for more extensive discussions of women's issues, suck as women's positions in politics, business, motherhood, and marriage. Sensitive, straightforward, and perceptive, We Are Our Mothers' Daughters celebrates the diversity of choices and perspectives available to women today and affirms the bond of female solidarity--a vital, powerful interconnection among all women, whatever their background."What is woman's place? That's been the hot question of my adult life."Renowned news correspondent, Cokie Roberts, explores significant issues confronting women on the cusp of the new millennium, such as the balance of work and family, the diverse roles of women, and the connection and distinction between different generations of women. She addresses these critical topics through the lens of her reporting career, melding her personal experiences with the experiences of other exceptional women she has met.Sensitive, straightforward, and perceptive, We Are Our Mothers' Daughters celebrates the diversity of choices and perspectives available to the women of today, but ultimately affirms a bond of female solidarity -- a vital, powerful interconnection among all women, whatever their background. It's an important message, delivered by one of America's most respected and eloquent journalists.
From the Publisher
Renowned news correspondent, Cokie Roberts, explores significant issues confronting women on the cusp of the new millennium, such as the balance of work and family, the diverse roles of women, and the connection and distinction between different generations of women. She addresses these critical topics through the lens of her reporting career, melding her personal experiences with the experiences of other exceptional women she has met. Sensitive, straightforward, and perceptive, We Are Our Mothers' Daughters celebrates the diversity of choices and perspectives available to the women of today, but ultimately affirms a bond of female solidarity -- a vital, powerful interconnection among all women, whatever their background. It's an important message, delivered by one of America's most respected and eloquent journalists.
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